Nature Vs Nuture
by OzoraWings
Summary: When all you do is help the people around you and expect nothing in return who do you turn too?, Tsunayoshi Sawada is at his wit's end and the most important people in his famiglia are about to find out just what their boss' has been hiding all this time.


Disclaimer: I do _not_ own any of the featured media, the rights go to their respected.

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><p>Nature Vs. Nuture.<p>

One-Shot.

Blood - The smell of iron seemed to be forever engraved onto his skin; it was starting to be normal to have the warm liquid plastered on his hands, and it was disgusting; nothing made his stomach churn more then that feeling. His heart was becoming unfixable because of it.

"Sleep now" the brunet whispered. His eyes were burning with orange, but despite the vivid flame that lived behind his lenses, they seemed so dull, as he looked half-lidded-ly to the man that was staggering backwards from his previous attack.

"Monster!" The Mafiosi sneered. He fell to the ground with a loud and lifeless thump after he used the last of his energy to voice his hatred.

Tsunayoshi stood limply, holding back tears as he bit into his tender cheek - it wasn't safe yet; they would be here soon and he wouldn't allow them to see him in such a weak state; it would be completely ungrateful if he dared. dying chocolate eyes glanced at the blood that clung to his hands, as that horrific scream resonated in his ears and felt sick; bile was travelling up his throat but he swallowed and swallowed and made sure to keep _swallowing, _as he had done all the times before; he couldn't throw up like the first time; it sent everyone into a huge panic.

Dirty - he was _dirty_. He was standing in the base of an enemy, and know nothing was left but ruins and bodies. His mind wound back to something Reborn had huffed at him at the end of an argument, as his finishing statement 'You've lost your innocence Tsuna.'

"Tenth!" said boss squared his shoulders and tried to fight the flinch that voice bought to him, before turning around, his bangs clipped his eyes as he caught a glimpse of his guardians running across the battlefield; wearing worried but relieved expression.

Tsuna soon regretted the sudden movement as his legs started to buckle; and sent him to the ground 'Damn' the brunet swore mentally, as he felt a hot pain to his hip that he couldn't before. Shakily, Tsuna latched his hand onto the wound and applied pressure.

A bullet - how could he not notice? maybe he was a monster.

Tsuna could sense his friends pace hasten and grimaced; what happened to not concerning them? - Picking himself of off the floor, he tried his best not to sway. He would not be the cause of their worry. Not again.

His blood and that of his enemy's intertwined as his wound continued to bleed out, the crimson liquid ran down his leg behind his expensive suit; the material stuck to his skin. Tsuna shivered as one thought came above all.

Reborn was going to kill him. Slowly.

"Oi!, you okay Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked, voicing everyone else's concerns. Tsuna simply nodded to his friend; he couldn't trust his voice right now, and he wasn't prepared to risk it.

Tsuna wanted to pat Yamamoto on the shoulder for reassurance but stopped himself mid-movement when he remembered the what clung to his hands like a second skin, and pulled back, before his eyes trailed over his guardians figures; searching for injures and let go of his held breath; sighing in relief.

Everyone was alive.

Tsunayoshi smile was lacklustre, though despite that, the mood lifted "I'm fine" Tsuna's tone was carefully disguised.

Through the years, Tsuna had developed, and was barely recognizable from what he used to be.

Many things had changed; height, speech, language, home and the uncanny ability to be able to lie.

Back in the day, he had been weak, indecisive, and a total wimp - he knew he had been absolutely no good.

Tsuna had only ever had two things going for him; the first being lost early on in his career as a Mafia boss; the value for life, of course his feelings on the subject never changed - Every life was still important to him, and _will _always be important to him, but as he's been the head of the Vongola,he realised that when fighting one question would always be on his mind, to save a loved, or to spare the enemy? .

And so he choose, time and time again he would chose. And finally found out, just how difficult protecting a life truly is.

The second was his ability to be honest; every face he showed to the outside stage was fake; a masquerade of sorts, every word - every sentence carefully written.

"Really. Guys I'm fine" the brunet reassured, before walking away as best as he could as he tried to hide the limp.

He wanted to get away from this dreadful battlefield and away from the lies. He ignored their attempts to catch up with him; they shouldn't be near him. He shouldn't be near them - not now, not like this.

Tsunayoshi got a very _long_, very uncharacteristic lecture from Shamal when he returned to the mansion - about how he needed to be more careful, and how he shouldn't let his guard down, and that if the bullet had been just a inch higher he would have either lost his leg and or bled to death - which made Tsuna feel better.

Though, admittedly, he _had_ slowly turned off when Shamal had started to muttered about how he needed to treat more girl patients and that Shamal didn't want to see him again any time soon. Tsuna left with a small 'thank you' as he understood the underlining message of that 'Don't get hurt'.

He disappeared into the hallway, hopping in aid of his left leg which he had been told, _twice, _that under no circumstances was it to be stood on for a week or two. Shamal had tried to make him get a thicker plaster if he refused a wheelchair, but Tsuna couldn't have allowed either of those; he couldn't let anyone know that he had been injured.

Tsuna inwardly cused his own luck that the hit-man had shot his leg and not an arm. Tsunayoshi continue to wobble into his office, and took great pleasure in sinking into his black leather chair, catching his breath.

Tsuna's eyelids became suddenly heavy as tears stung the corners of his eyes. And all he could think was that it was safe now.

His office continued to fall away as he drifted back into his own world. If only for a moment.

"-Una Oi Tsuna!"

Startled, Tsunayoshi untangled himself from the silence that was consuming his dream and sprung from his chair, collapsing to his office's carpeted floor; his leg gave out from the sudden movement, as pain rushed down his left side. He winced in discomfort and pain.

"Got yourself shot, huh?", The Arcobaleno glared "I thought I taught you better, idiot-Tsuna!" he scolded. Tsuanyoshi got himself off of the floor and helped himself by propping himself up with the desk, and let himself fall against his new substitute bed.

"Sorry" he smiled "I...let my guard down"

"Your running yourself dry, Decimo" Reborn stated, as he sat himself down beside his student.

Reborn had noticed.

He had seen the pain Tsuna had been carrying since so long ago. His student had started out with no secrets; Tsunayoshi had always been so completely candid, and if he wasn't in a telling mood, a bullet or two always got the job done. So when the tutor had learned that his pupil was troubled, he thought he could help solve the problem, but when he asked he was met with either smile or a blank expression.

Tsuna had _lied_, which was a puzzle in and of itself, but he just didn't stopped after that.

Reborn knew he held some of the responsibility for the change in Tsuna's personality.

He, after all, had made a dove act like a crow.

He was the boy's tutor, he had _raised_ him into the boss he was today - teaching him on how to act, how to speak, how to _live_. So that Tsuna wouldn't die in the underworld 'normal' people aren't meant to know of.

Reborn was the one who had made him rope his friends into this - his friends that were, at the time, still learning of what kind of people they were; that's one thing Reborn had regretted about the Ninth's orders - was their age, they still didn't know what they wanted to do or who they wanted to be - and he knew, he knew that that killed Tsuna. It wasn't just the fact that Reborn was forcing him into it, he had dragged other people into it too, and that cut him deeper then any knife.

Because he was his tutor, he had made that scared, little boy grow up far too quickly; forcing him to do things Tsuna didn't want to do - battle people he didn't want to fight, and go against his nature.

"_Your _the one who woke _me _up!" Tsuna sighed, as he rubbed his temples; trying to stave the headache that neared, and ignored the frown appeared on Reborn's face.

"Three this time"

The Arcobaleno raised his eyebrow against the sort voice; he hated it when Tsuna spoke cryptically.

"Kodaka Hasegawa, age twenty-two, class d - team L. Sena Mikazuki age nineteen, class E - Team h. Taro Sado age fourty-three, class b - team b, and he was going to retire in five months"

Reborn's eyes widened before flattening again, and kept his mouth shut "Tomorrow I have to inform their families, that their loved ones aren't coming home"

The hit-man sighed; his student was trying to carry the whole famiglia and was being crushed by the sheer weight.

"Reborn..." the tutor's ears peeked at the sound of his name. He knew this tone, this incredibly sad tone.

"Yeah? what is it Tsunayoshi?"

"...I'm a monster, aren't I ?" The baby's face twisted with confusion as he watched while Tsuna's hands ruffled through his unruly hair, his chocolate eyes averted to the side.

_Crack__**. **_His heart was cracking, and he could no longer control the pain or the lump in his throat as he whimpered and swallowed thickly.

Untangling his hands, Tsuna brought them down to eye level, slight hysteria settling into his chest "I rub and rub Reborn, but the blood just doesn't go away" he choked.

Tears slipped past Tsuna's defences as they rolled down his cheeks; falling onto the cold wooden desk "I don't know what I should do anymore" he sobbed, loud wiles escaping from their prison.

Onyx orbs stared speechlessly. In all the years he had own his student,_ never _had he seen Tsuna cry. Reborn didn't know the first thing about comforting him; holding him up, and pushing him forward and watching as Tsuna walked had been his signs of affection - the only way he knew how to handle their weird relationship.

Slowly, even cautiously, he placed his hand on top of the larger counterpart, and realised then that Tsuna was running a cold-sweat, and he shrived because of the change in temperature. Warm, Tsuanyoshi had Always been warm.

The Arcobaleno's fedora dropped silently to the floor as Tsunayoshi pulled him to his chest, and wrapped his now fragile arms around the small figure, before he buried his face into his teacher's black hair.

The baby could feel the air leave his lungs, but Reborn refused to remove himself from Tsuna's grip after he had felt the erratic heartbeat from the man's trembling body, as he continued to sob uncontrollably.

"I'm-I'm so-s-sorry for being weak" Tsuna managed to cry in-between the other strangled noises he made.

Reborn froze from those five words, which made him feel terribly guilty, this is after all, what happens when you go against your nature; Tsuna simply cared to much - he valued life above all else. He had always said Tsuna's greatest strength was also his greatest weakness. And now his body was rejecting it.

Reborn's ears perked once again, only this time to a weak murmur, that he couldn't quite catch.

"What has that?" Reborn startled even himself at the gentle tone his voice produced.

"Can't - can't tell the others" Tsuna garbled.

Tsuna's cries resonated through out the mansion; worrying all who heard - His guardians, on recognising the voice, tracked the brunet down to his office. And watched silently from the crack in the door, where they could just about see what was happening.

Gokudera's silver hair dangled in front of his wide eyes, as he leant against the wall next door, and continued to slid down, and became a heap on the stone floor. His face darkening.

_He was the Storm, but going on a rampage now would do nothing to soothe his sky's pain._

Yamamoto sat beside Hayato, and rubbed him in circles on the back, just like Tsuna would do for them. Fisting his free hand to remind himself that he had to keep a level head; he had too keep Gokudera inline.

_He was the Rain; washing away all conflict. _Biting his lip he felt frustrated_, because he knew that no matter how much he rained, it wasn't going to ease this sky's inner conflict._

Lambo became ridden with shock as he remembered all the times his big brother had picked him up and dried his tears; and told him in soothing words how everything was going to be alright.

And after all this time, he never knew his boss was scared of anything, least of all himself 'Damn it. Damn it all.' he clenched his fists, until he could feel his blood burble under his skin from his nails, but ignored it.

Keeping his eyes on Tsuna, he felt hopeless_; he was the Lightening, but how was he meant to shield Vongola from himself?._

Ryohei was speechless. He wanted to go barging into that office and make everything better. And at the same time, he just really wanted to punch something. Hard.

He didn't understand what this feeling in his chest was, but he didn't like it_. He was the Sun, but he didn't know how to heal his boss, he didn't know how to shine through this._

Mukuro and Chrome glanced at each other, their fingers interlinking. The usual smirk that would play on Rokudo's lips was no where to be found, as chrome's round eyes were teary and red.

_They were the Mist, but they had become so blind._

Hibari watched from down the hall.

Tsunayoshi Sawada's present state didn't surprise him. Much. Stupid omnivore always bit off more then he could crew, and now he was choking on it. Even so, it didn't sit right with him. This feeling - this annoying weight on his shoulders.

_He was the cloud, but he was useless._

Their face's paled as they listened to their friend, who had given them all so much; a family, and protection, a home and people to fill it, that same man now screaming in pain.

If he could save everyone of them, why couldn't they safe him?, why was protecting their Sky so difficult?…

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><p><strong>Translation Information-**

'Nono' - Means "Ninth"

**'**Decimo' - Means "Tenth"

'Famiglia' - Means "Family"

'He, after all, had made a dove act like a crow' - it's meant to be symbolic. You see, a crow is seen as the massager of death, while many view a dove as the bringer of peace.

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><p><strong>AC - **

I just wanted a break from '_Down the Line_', everyone needs a change every now and then right?. Sorry this is gonna have to be pretty short I had to stay up way past my bed to finish this. All I have to say is sorry about the ending; I didn't really know where I was going with the end so I just winged it...Never doing that again (sigh). I should be writing the next chapter of 'D.T.L' so I hope that makes it up : (.

**Updated****/ **Well I've re-read and went through for spelling mistakes, I've always changed bits-and-bods in the context, the most noticeable thing being the extra paragraphs, and the ending, yay for me. **-** **09.04.12.**

**Updated/-07.08.12**

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><p>I<strong> Apologise <strong>if there are any mistakes in my spelling/ grammar, or if you find anything I have written offensive.

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><p><strong>Thank you<strong> to everyone who added '_Nature vs. Nurture_' to their favorites/ alerts or who took the time to review. You also have my gratitude for reading this one-shot.

**OW**


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